Your 20s are a difficult decade. It’s when you’re thrown into adulthood, a journey that doesn’t really come with a map. So we struggle, trying to figure out how to balance our careers with our social life, looking for that all-important soulmate, fighting our families as we try living the life we want. But here’s the thing: your 20s can be the BEST years of your life ever or the worst. Which way it goes, depends on how early you realize these truths.

1. You don’t have as much time as you think you do.

The decade of your 20s will pass by before you know it. So postponing your dreams, waiting for the “perfect tomorrow” and spending your days turning into a person you don’t like will only end with you running out of tomorrows.

2. Unless you learn from your mistakes, they’ll always be just that – mistakes.

Everyone screws up. That’s a given. But you need to turn them into lessons. And take those forward as you work towards your dreams. Otherwise, really, your failures will just be all the times you failed. Nothing more.

3. Success is fleeting – put in the time to enjoy it, but put in the work to make it last.

There are a million people vying to be the best. So letting your success go to your head and turn you blind to your flaws in a decade as important as your 20s, will just be setting yourself up for a painful reality check.

4. Marriage and love isn’t the answer to everything.
They won’t fix your insecurities or suddenly give you renewed purpose. They also won’t automatically turn you into an adult.

5. You are responsible for your own actions, so take ownership of yourself.

You need to start owning up to the things you do. Even if it’s because you trusted the wrong people – you made the decision to trust them.

6. You can’t be so busy chasing the dream life, that you forget to live.

Work towards your dreams, the success you always wanted. But remember that you are so much more than your successes and failures. Don’t spend your 20s preparing so much for your 30s that you forget to actually enjoy what can be the best damn decade of your life.